BOMBSHELL: Owen Farrell cleared in stunning red card twist

Owen Farrell’s red card has been rescinded and he is free to play in England’s entire Rugby World Cup campaign, a disciplinary panel ruled on Tuesday.

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Farrell faced the very real possibility of missing at least a couple of England’s Rugby World Cup pool games, perhaps even their entire pool stage, after he was sent off for a dangerous shoulder-to-the-head hit on Wales flank Taine Basham.

Farrell was initially issued a yellow card, but his sanction was upgraded from a yellow card to red by the TMO bunker review system and as a result he had to appear before an all-Australian disciplinary committee.

FAZ CLEARED OF WRONGDOING

England’s captain appeared before a video disciplinary hearing on Tuesday morning, and was represented by Richard Smith, the leading QC employed by the RFU.

The mid-range sanction for a dangerous tackle is six games and given he received a three-match ban for the same offence in January (reduced from four weeks to three because of a day at tackle school), on top of five matches in 2020 and two in 2016, it was highly doubtful that he would be treated leniently by the disciplinary process. 

But in a shocking twist, Farrell’s red card has been overturned and no ban has been issued. He is now immediately available for selection and is expected to start in England’s warm-up against Ireland this weekend.

A STILL OF THE OWEN FARRELL INCIDENT